There are faster versions, but probably not so much the ones that are commonly taught. Also, most of the time one writes plenty fast enough. The only case I can think of where more speed is essential is steno and that is not cursive.

If you want speed, there are better options, not the least of which is a keyboard (or steno etc). I haven’t had a use case for cursive since it was required in elementary school. For most purposes that don’t care about speed it is inferior to the block writing styles I learned for engineering.

I swear, many years ago, there were papers published that showed print-style handwriting was quicker. Up until then I would have agreed with you; now I'm not so sure, and the sources have drifted into the mists of memory.

Worth a check.